Four Levels of Renunciation

My most dear, most precious, most kind, wish-fulfilling one, 
Thank you very much for your letter. You explained that you practice Drikung Kagyü and Nyingma, and that you’re very interested in getting an answer from me about your practice. You’re most welcome; no problem at all. 

You can achieve enlightenment through all the four sects. I will explain according to my observation. All the 84,000 teachings of the Buddha are embodied in the Lesser Vehicle teachings and the Greater Vehicle [Mahayana] teachings of sutra and tantra. 

Because sentient beings have different levels of mind and not everyone is at the same level, these three extensive teachings are embodied into the lamrim, the graduated path to enlightenment. The lamrim has the teachings of the graduated path of the lesser capable being in general, the graduated path of the middle capable being in general and the graduated path of the higher capable being. All of these are embodied into the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment—renunciation, bodhicitta, and the right view [of emptiness]—according to Lama Tsongkhapa. 

Instead of having renunciation of this life, then renunciation of the next lives and separating them into two, they are put into one category, the renunciation of samsara, so that’s interesting. First there is renunciation for Dharma, which means renouncing attachment to this life, praise, reputation, receiving materials and so forth. We have attachment to this life and as much as there’s attachment, that much more there’s dislike of the four opposite things: the discomfort of this life, not receiving praise, having a bad reputation and not receiving good reputation, or not receiving materials. 

So you can see what brings life up and down so much for people in the West. It’s a good example of Western life, going up and down all the time, every day. This is because of not renouncing attachment, clinging to this life, so these things happen. This is the root and it causes hundreds, thousands of problems in the life. By renouncing this, you renounce all the problems that spread like roots. Instead, there’s incredible peace and happiness in this life as you’re living in pure Dharma practice.

The Nyingma and Kagyü traditions also have four things that need to be renounced, which correspond to the four levels of renunciation. They are:  

1. Renunciation of attachment to this life and future lives [equivalent to the path of the lower capable being].
2. Renunciation of attachment to samsaric perfections [equivalent to the path of the middle capable being].
3. Renunciation of the self-cherishing thought, so then there’s bodhicitta [with the next one, equivalent to the path of the higher capable being]
4. Renunciation of ignorance, the root of samsara, which means the ignorance holding the I, action, object, all the phenomena as real, as things appear from there to our hallucinated mind. So that is the wisdom realizing emptiness.

In the Sakya tradition, there’s Parting from the Four Clingings (Wyl: zhen pa bzhi bral). [They are: If you cling to this life you are not a Dharma practitioner; If you cling to future lives’ samsara you mind is not in renunciation; If you cling to the I, that is not the right view; If you cling to cherishing the I, that is not bodhicitta.] It’s not all attachment; you have to know that. The self-cherishing is not attachment; holding things as real while they are not is not attachment. 

In Tibetan language zhen pa means clinging, so the title is Parting from the Four Clingings. When it goes into the detail, it’s not clinging, those last two are not clinging—the self-cherishing thought and ignorance, holding things as real, as they appear to the hallucinated mind. That is a totally ignorance concept. 

Ti muk den dzin ma rig pa means holding [the view of] true existence when there’s not one atom of true existence, and all these things exist in mere name. Negative karma and good karma are created in mere name, and the resultant suffering and happiness are experienced in mere name. Similarly, achieving the great liberation from samsara, achieving great nirvana, enlightenment, is in mere name. 

Therefore, there’s all this, just having different names, but it’s all the same [in essence]. So when you study lamrim, it touches all the teachings of the Buddha. It says when you read lamrim, all the teachings get moved, so that means it’s the essence of all the teachings; it touches all the teachings; it’s the essence. 

My suggestion is for you to study Lama Tsongkhapa’s Middle-Length Lamrim. If you can, please study this text three times from beginning to end. 

In terms of effortful practice, please read my advice on how to meditate on the lamrim. Keep going step-by-step through the lamrim outline for the path of the three capable beings. Circle through the outline and repeat this three times.

Also do the following:

• Vajrasattva: 30,000 recitations;
• Mandala offerings: 300,000 times;
• Sutra of Great Liberation: Recite this at least once each week for your whole life, if possible. It has the most unbelievable, unbelievable benefits. Just by hearing the name you don’t get reborn in the lower realms, it’s unbelievable.  

So that’s it. You are most welcome to enlightenment. Goodbye to samsara. 

It appears that you must already have your main deity. Since you’ve been practicing for a long time, you must have your own deity. 

With much love and prayers ...